SMU, Baylor offer help to Rice football team stranded by Hurricane Harvey

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Meyerland resident Connor Childs, in orange life jacket, and his dog Lacey are rescued by officials from their home by transporting them by boat along Interstate 610 south during heavy rains from Hurricane Harvey in Houston on Sunday, August 27, 2017. (Louis DeLuca/The Dallas Morning News)

The Rice football team is in limbo in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. The Owls are returning to the United States after opening the season against Stanford in Sydney, Australia. With flooding making it difficult to fly or even drive into Houston, Rice is unsure when it will be able to return home.

The team will fly into Los Angeles before returning to Texas. The exact location that they will set up base is still up in the air but both SMU head coach Chad Morris and Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades have offered to help in any possible way, Rice head coach David Bailiff told Fox 26's Mark Berman.

"I don't think we're going to get (to Houston) for awhile. Even if we could, I don't know that we should," Bailiff told Berman. "We're going to land in LA, then we've talked about maybe going to Dallas. Chad Morris has reached out to us. So has Mack Rhoades at Baylor. If they can help in any capacity, to let them know.

"I think it's wonderful," Bailiff added. "I got the text messages last night from them. Two guys I respect a lot in the business. Once we get into LA and find out what the conditions are, that's when we'll make a firm Plan B."

Rice's next two games on the schedule are at UT-El Paso on Sep. 9 and at Houston on Sep. 16. Houston practiced this weekend at the University of Texas with former UH head coach Tom Herman hosting his old program in Austin. SMU, Baylor and TCU offered to host Houston in anticipation of Hurricane Harvey, as well.